


A servant's ball

by julietterocher



Category: Mills & Boon
Genre: F/M, I Don't Even Know, Nonsense, Scheming, probably doesnt even make sense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2014-08-24
Packaged: 2018-02-14 13:05:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2192871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julietterocher/pseuds/julietterocher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rupert's friend Tom needs to impress his family in order to gain the freedom to marry Susie, Rupert finds a way to create a scandal for him to write about in his new job as a reporter. He doesn't think of how his actions affect the maid he choses to kiss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A servant's ball

**Author's Note:**

> In the style of a mills and boon novel, just to see if I could.

The muscles bunch across his back, and he reaches up to wipe the window, higher than I can reach. A drip falls down the pane, and I catch it before he can. His hand touches mine as I wipe it away, and he pauses in his task to kiss my neck. His cloth falls to the ground, and another maid,Anna, picks it up before it can get too muddy. She smiles as his hands caress my stomach, and moves to the next set of windows to give us more privacy. His hand snakes around my back and I turn to face him. He buries his face in the hair piled high on my head. Anna coughs loudly and we break apart, to the sound of bubbling laughter from Lord Rupert and his new bride, Lady Harriet. Anna throws the cloth, and Jack catches it deftly, before stuffing it into my apron pocket and stepping slightly away from me.  
I curtsey quickly, and Lord Rupert nods. As I turn to Lady Harriet she curtseys to us both, Jack and me. We bow our heads and wait for them to pass. I hear their footsteps approach rapidly, and one set of footsteps enter the house. I see the sweeping hem of Lady Harriet’s satin skirt brush past, but Lord Rupert’s shoes stop in front of me. I wonder what I have done wrong. Was my curtsey too shallow? Is my dress too short? Is my hair wrong?  
I raise my head, nervous about what he will say. Jack steps almost unnoticeably closer to me, and I take comfort from his presence.  
“Calm down. You’re shaking, relax.” His voice is too low for Lord Rupert to hear, but I heed his advice.  
Lord Rupert nods at us, and we bow and curtsey. He waits for us to stand still, but smiles as he waits. He speaks directly to Jack, almost talking around me, but glancing down to watch my expression.  
“I wished to ask for a favour, if you will allow me.” Jack nods. “I wish to ask for your permission to ask your wife if I can borrow her tonight.” Jack looks shocked, but Lord Rupert laughs. Jack takes my hand behind my back. “Not for my use, I don’t think Harriet would let me. I wish for her to be a guest at a party, as I wish to cause a scandal, and I couldn’t think of any other way to do it, than to kiss someone who is not my wife.” Jack looks slightly more accepting, and squeezes my fingers. Lord Rupert blinks slowly, waiting for an answer.  
“Yes. I will allow you to ask her.” Jack takes my hand in both of his, and plants a quick kiss on my cap.  
I blush at the display before our employer, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He explains his cryptic question.  
“I wish to cause a scandal for a friend, a journalist who needs a fresh story to write about. I owe him a good deed, and this would be perfect. Harriet agrees with me, and has given her permission and blessing to my little plan, now all I need is you. I chose you as the only married member of my staff. You already know about my life, and you have, forgive me for saying so, no prospects for me to ruin. I will pay for everything you could possibly need, and there will not be much need for you to speak with other guests. Harriet will teach you how to behave, and what to say and do. So, will you do it?”  
I think about the offer. A night off work against the prospect of kissing someone who is not my husband, who kisses my head again; Jack is unaware of the affect his kisses have on my ability to think.  
I nod, smiling nervously. Lord Rupert smiles, and looks at Jack. I feel Jack nod, and he lets go of my hands. Lord Rupert steps forwards, pulling me into his arms and hugging me. I laugh at his happiness, but quickly step back to Jack when I am released. Lord Rupert looks down and blushes slightly at his enthusiasm, and he quickly tells me what time I will be needed and disappears back into the house.   
Jack and I finish cleaning the windows with more enthusiasm than usual. The rest of the day’s jobs pass in a blur of washing and worrying.  
What will I wear?  
What if I fall?  
What if a say something wrong?  
What if I mess up?  
What will I have to do?  
What if Lord Rupert is a bad kisser?  
What if Lord Rupert is a good kisser?  
The last question scares me the most. How will this affect my job?  
Soon it is four o’clock. I leave the necklace I am cleaning, passing the precious jewels to Anna for her to finish polishing the gleaming stones.  
I knock quietly on Lady Harriet’s door, and her soft instruction to ‘come in’ gives me confidence. After my curtsey she instructs me to go through to her own personal bathroom, where her lady’s maid, Peggy, is drawing a deep scented bath. She smiles at me, slightly envious, before leaving me and Lady Harriet.  
As I bathe Lady Harriet tells me how to address the guests, how to talk, stand, walk, eat, drink sit, smile. The rapid instructions with their soft accent make me feel calmer. I can do this. All I need to do is play the part. Lady Harriet calls Peggy back and leaves the bathroom whilst I am dressed. The blue ball gown is light, and moves easily. The floating satin is a far cry from the rough, heavy wool of my uniform. Peggy returns to dress my hair. The glittering curls make me look older than my 16 years, but still not as old as Rupert. When I see the shoes laid out on the bed my face falls. Lady Harriet sees my terror and pulls me away from them.  
“Those are what Rupert wanted you to wear, but I said you wouldn’t be confident walking in them. That sounds really rude. I didn’t mean it like that but I'm not confident in shoes that high and I didn’t think you would need anything else to worry about tonight.” I interrupt her babble.   
“Thank you. I can only just manage to walk in small heels, but will I not be very small next to Lord Rupert?”  
She shakes her head and looks over my head as I feel a hand on my back. Lord Rupert laughs and points out the difference between himself and Lady Harriet. I am impressed with the easy love between them. At the last house I worked in, the lord and lady were cold and distant. They never laughed, rarely smiled and certainly never showed any emotion in public, not even in their own house. I thought that all relationships were like that, until I met Jack. Now I know that they are most definitely not.  
Lord Rupert hugs his wife, and she hugs him back. He moves to shut the door, and I watch the way she unconsciously sways to him, like a flower turning to the light. I wonder if I react like that with Jack. I hope I do.  
Lord Rupert whispers quickly to Lady Harriet while I wait by the bed. Finally they stop their discussion and turn to me. Lord Rupert releases his wife’s hand and she crosses the room to her wardrobe. She disappears into the overflowing room, and returns with a silver silk cloak and a pair of lower heeled shoes, that are almost identical to the pair on the bed.  
She folds the cloak and passes it to her husband, before giving me the shoes.  
As I fasten the tiny button I listen to what Lord Rupert wants me to do tonight.  
“You will enter with Harriet, as her companion, and be introduced as Lady Olivia. I will enter later, with Tom Byrne, you know him, remember, and we will circulate for a while, before Tom and Harriet will move away from us, then you will head back up the stairs toward them, and I will follow you, we will have a scene on the stairs and I will kiss you. You will pull away and run outside. Harriet will follow you and see that you get home safely. Is all that to your liking?”  
I nod and Lady Harriet claps her hands in delight.  
“It’s going to work so well, and then Tom will have his story, and he can marry Susie and everything will be fantastic.”  
She twirls around the room, and I step forwards to catch her when she trips over a chair, but Lord Rupert gets there first, scooping her into his arms, and they kiss passionately. I look away and wait. They break apart when I start to back away, and Lady Harriet blushes a gentle shade of raspberry, beaten only by Lord Rupert’s red cheeks.  
Once they have recovered their composure we rehearse the evening, bowing and curtsying to the furniture. We giggle our way through the plan and I am surprised at the lack of propriety and stuffiness. I am after all, a servant.   
I am interrupted from my musings when Lord Rupert grabs my arm, turning me to face him. The laughter and giddiness of earlier seems to have faded, and Lady Harriet looks slightly wary. We rehearse the argument, directed by Lady Harriet, but both stop when she instructs us to kiss.  
Lord Rupert looks nervous, and steps away from me, all traces of the easy laughter from earlier vanishing suddenly like the sun behind a cloud. “I don’t think we really need to do this. We could just do it when we need to.”  
“Rupert, dear, I think it would be better to do this now. If you don’t, how will you know how to behave? We don’t need ‘Miss Olivia’ to feel any pressure.”  
I nod at the name of the alter ego we have built, almost invisibly, but Lord Rupert seems to see it. He takes my hand and glances to Lady Harriet, then back to me. He looks into my eyes and takes my hands.  
“Stop me if you think I’ve taken it too far, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. Promise you will?”  
I nod and he tucks his left hand behind my neck.  
I tilt my head upwards to receive his kiss.  
The actual kiss is brief, and contains no love, or any feelings at all. When we break apart Lady Harriet is watching us with a smile on her face. I recognise the look in her eyes and quickly change back into my work dress. I leave the couple, promising to return at nine o’clock. I turn away Peggy in the corridor, and she blushes as we hear the sounds coming from the bedroom. I hurry away, leaving Peggy to turn everyone away from the east corridor.  
Jack greets me with a hug and a longer, more passionate kiss. I tell him I have the afternoon off, and he quickly gets permission to leave the house.  
We follow the river down to the bridge, and sit leaning against it, relaxing in the sun.  
The afternoon passes quickly, and I return to the house to find Lady Harriet waiting with the dress. The blue silk is lighter than air, billowing gently in the breeze. She hands it to me and I change in her bathroom. The shoes are easier to walk in, and when she hands me the cloak my transformation is complete.   
The carriage ride is long, and though the conversation flows easily I am relieved to see the lights leading up to Byrne Park. Our host, Tom Byrne, is enthusiastic, and I can see he knows what is planned. He leads Lady Harriet into the ballroom, and Lord Rupert takes my arm. Lord Byrne and the girl he loves, Lady Susie, open the ball, and they dance beautifully together.   
The three of us, Lady Harriet, Lord Rupert and I, mingle with the guests, Lady Harriet introducing me as her 'great friend, Lady Olivia Parker'. After a while we begin to head towards the head of the room, a raised area, overlooking the ballroom floor, where most of the guests are dancing a waltz. Tom nods at Lord Rupert as we pass him and Susie, and she grins at Lady Harriet, who kisses her husband quickly and takes Susie's arm. The pair slowly shift through the assembled company until they are at the opposite end of the room, where Lord Bryne has procured a table for them. Susie grins at me and even from across the room I can see how her face lights up at the impending mischief. I can see how she takes Tom's arm as she sits down, how eagerly he is watching Lord Rupert and I.  
I take my cue and begin to ascend the staircase. Lord Rupert follows me, always a few steps behind. The argument passes in a blur of insults and innuendo, just as we rehearsed, and he leans down to kiss me. I return his affection with a light slap, and then hurry from the room. Lady Harriet follows me, cries of “Wait, Olivia, slow down.” echoing down the marble corridor.


End file.
